Commissioned on August 26, 1940, as a Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Escambia County, Florida, the installation was named for Lieutenant Richard Caswell Saufley, one of the Navy's earliest aviators. It served as the primary flight training base for the Naval Air Technical Training Center before being redesignated Naval Air Station Saufley Field in 1968, then Outlying Landing Field Saufley Field in 1976, before reactivating in 1979 as a Navy education and training center. Today NAS Pensacola Saufley Field remains part of the NAS Pensacola complex, supporting Department of Defense organizations from aircraft hangars, machine shops, and fire stations largely built between the 1940s and 1970s.
Navy PFAS investigations at Naval Air Station Pensacola Saufley Field identified an unusually specific set of locations tied to historical AFFF use:
- Former Fire Fighting Training Area (Site 2)
- former fire truck staging areas
- former Crash Shack/Block House
- current fire station
- temporary fire station operated out of a hangar
Each of these was investigated because of documented AFFF use during firefighter training, equipment testing, crash response, and foam handling.
That spread of locations meant firefighters at NAS Pensacola Saufley Field encountered AFFF in more settings than a single training pit, staging areas, crash response points, and the fire stations themselves all factored in. Exposure came through:
- foam concentrate mixed before drills
- hoses charged against simulated and live fuel fires
- gear and vehicles cleaned afterward
- foam storage and delivery systems maintained between exercises
This pattern repeated throughout a firefighter's assignment to the base.
Navy firefighters and Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting personnel were most directly exposed, joined by fire instructors, firefighter trainees, civilian firefighters assigned to NAS Pensacola Saufley Field, and the staff responsible for maintaining firefighting vehicles and foam systems.
Kidney cancer and testicular cancer have all been linked to PFAS chemicals found in AFFF among firefighters with this kind of sustained exposure. If you trained or served as a firefighter at NAS Pensacola Saufley Field's training area, crash response facilities, or fire stations and were later diagnosed with one of these cancers, that history is worth having reviewed.
Like most Navy installations built during World War II, Naval Air Station Pensacola Saufley Field extensively used asbestos for its fire-resistant and insulating properties. Materials commonly used throughout its hangars, training buildings, and barracks included:
- pipe insulation
- boilers
- ceiling tiles
- wallboard
- gaskets
- floor tiles
- cement siding
- wiring insulation
- roof coating
Given the base's aviation training mission, occupational exposure was especially likely among:
- aviation ordnanceman
- electrician's mate
- utilitiesman
- watertender
- machinist's mate
- structural mechanic
- welders
- hull maintenance technician
Naval Air Station Pensacola Saufley Field has operated since 1940, with much of its infrastructure dating to the World War II and Cold War eras when asbestos-containing materials were standard in military construction. Aircraft maintenance personnel, engineers, and civilian contractors responsible for maintaining these facilities likely had the greatest opportunity for occupational exposure. Mesothelioma and lung cancer remain the two illnesses most closely tied to that exposure, both known for taking 20 to 50 years to surface after fibers are first inhaled. If you performed maintenance work at Naval Air Station Pensacola Saufley Field and have since been diagnosed with either condition, contact our team to find out whether you're eligible to file an asbestos claim.